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This week Via Satellite editors Jeff Hill and Mark Holmes join the podcast to talk about their trip to Paris for the annual World Space Business Week. The annual September show was at a particularly interesting time this year, a month after the Olympics and just weeks before the U.S. presidential election.  One of the...

Finnish startup ReOrbit secured its first GEO order to build a communications satellite for Malaysian energy and tech company Uzma Berhad, in a development the company hopes will open the door to further GEO business.  The satellite is based on ReOrbit’s flagship GEO platform, which recently passed an internal system design review. Smaller than traditional...

Astranis, Axient, L3Harris Technologies, and Sierra Space are to submit design concepts for the Resilient Global Positioning System (R-GPS) to U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) to launch up to eight R-GPS satellites by 2028, the command said on Tuesday. “Following this initial phase, a subset of the awardees will continue to a Final Design Review and build...

PARIS — SpaceX’s Starshield now looms large over the Earth observation (EO) market as industry players look to grow revenues in a market that has not always lived up to the potential and hype.  SpaceX announced plans for its Starshield business line in late 2022, including building EO satellites to support national security efforts. Then...

PARIS — International Space Command leaders are pushing for more cooperation in space as the domain becomes more contested. Speaking at the Space Defense and Security Summit this week in Paris, Maj. Gen. Philippe Adam, Space Commander, French Space Command, hailed French efforts here, building up the French Space Command over the last five years....

PARIS — The satellite industry continues to attract investors excited by the potential returns, but financiers are scrutinizing the business plans, growth rates, and exit plans for investments in the sector. Investors are being more cautious toward space-based investments right now, Chirag Kapadia, executive director, UBS, said during an investor panel at World Space Business...

PARIS — After years of delays, new launch vehicles are finally coming online in 2024 with the first flights of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan rocket and the Ariane 6. Blue Origin is set to launch its inaugural New Glenn vehicle later this year, adding another layer of intrigue and competition to the market. Europe...

PARIS — The direct-to-device (D2D) market has been the subject of excitement and hype in the satellite industry in the past few years, with the promise of expanding satellite’s market share and offering connectivity to phones and devices everywhere.  It’s early days for this market, as Apple was an early-mover in offering the service to customers....

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The Space Development Agency (SDA) continues to advance the communications capabilities of its first batch of satellites on orbit as part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), demonstrating sustained linkage between two satellites for more than a day at a time, the agency’s top official said on Monday. Two weeks ago, the...

PARIS — The satellite industry is undergoing massive change as many of the largest satellite operators consolidate to deal with competition from SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.  During the operator panel in Paris at World Space Business Week on Sept. 16, Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg described the current environment as a “quantum period of change” unlike anything...